Microsoft’s Macintosh Business Unit (MBU) on Monday revealed availability and pricing details regarding Office for Mac 2011. According to a post at the Mac team’s blog, the next-generation Office suite for Mac goes on sale this October and will be offered in two basic flavors, Office for Mac Home and Student 2011 and Office for Mac Home and Business 2011. Home and Student 2011 will cost $119 or $149 for a one-seat license or a three-user family pack, respectively, and will include Word for Mac, PowerPoint for Mac, Excel for Mac, and Messenger for Mac 8. The Academic edition will be also available, priced at just $99.

Business Edition adds Outlook for Mac and will cost $199 for a single user license or $279 for two seats. An optional online upgrade will be available fo Student Edition installations. Furthermore, everyone who purchases Office 2008 for Mac from Microsoft or authorized resellers between August 2 and November 30 will be eligible for a free upgrade to Office for Mac 2011 through this page. Office for Mac 2011 is a significant update that includes a number of improvements and replaces Entourage with the native Outlook app compatible with its PC counterpart for true, cross-platform messaging. Other features are detailed in our Office for Mac 2011 coverage (here, here, and here) and in CNET’s first-look video, included below.